Tray for phonograph records, etc



Aug. 12. 1924.

J. W. BISHOP TRAY FOR PHQNOGRAPH RECORDS ETC 'Filed April 24 lfitdslti PATENT @FFEfiE.

ZfiISEZO'P, OF IMUSKEGQN, MKCHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE BRUNSWICK- ?BALKECOLLENDER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELA- "WARE.

TRAY FOR PHONOGRAPH RECORDS, ETC.

Application filed April 524, 1%22. Serial No. 556,295.

To ail 20. mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH W. BIsHor, a citizen of the United States, residing at Muskegon, in the county of Muskegon and 6 State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trays for Phonograph Records, Etc, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of phonograph 10 records heretofore, so far as I am aware, it has been customary to provide trays open only at the top for receiving the pressed records at the press and holding them while they are being transferred to the bufiing l5 department where the rough edges are buffed and smoothed and to the department where they are inspected and finally enclosed in envelopes and sorted for shipment. A large percentage of the rejections 2? in the inspection department -is due to scratches and it has been found that these scratches are the result, to a very large extent, of the use of the trays. When the record is taken from the press it usually has a fin at its edge of more or less width which is removed by the pressman before the record is placed in the tray. This leaves a rough edge on the record which is removed in the buii'mg and smoothing department but the rough edge frequently has small bits of dry record material which may fall off upon the other records in the tray and become lodged between two records. When the tray is handled in transporting, the records may slide back and forth in the tray and if there are any loose bits of record material between the records they will often produce damaging scratches across the record grooves. If the records are double faced a bit of scrap between two records will often damage both records. It has also been found that a record tray closed at the sides and bottom is necessarily made of a greater diameter than the diameter of the records to permit the records to be easily inserted and removed and this promotes the objectionable movement of the records in the tray in handling. The closed trays heretofore used also permit the accumulation of dirt and scrap which is carried along with the records from department to department and is apt to become lodged between two records or on the face of a record and result in more or less serious damage by scratching.

It is the object of my present invention to provide a light, substantial, skeleton tray for phonograph records which can be easily handled, which will not accumulate dirt or waste and which can be made to hold the records so snugly that movement of the records in the tray is avoided.

And a further object of the invention is to facilitate handling the records by pro vidin a skeleton tra which enables the recor s to be inserted inand removed from the tray without sliding one record upon another, which permits a stack of records to be inserted in the tray or removed therefrom without sliding any records one upon the other, and which permits a plurality of trays to be placed one upon the other in a substantial and rigid stack.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating a selected embodiment of the invention which I have found to be satisfactory in extended practical use Fig. 1 is a plan view of a metal tray embodymg the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the tray shown partly in section with some records indi- 'cated in broken lines;

Fig. 3 shows two trays arranged one upon the other in a small stack.

Referring to the drawings in improved tray is circular in shape, prefera 1y made of metal and cast in one piece of some light metal such as aluminum. The tray comprises an annular base 4 having a plurality of uprights 5 suitably disposed to hold one or more phonograph records, or similar articles in place on the base. I prefer to step up the base at 6 to provide an annular sup-- port forming part of the base to receive the records 8 indicated in dotted lines. The uprights are preferably spaced apart just sufficient distance to snugly hold the records therebetween and prevent them from sliding one upon another in handling the tray and the step 6 is preferably spaced away from the uprights to provide the recesses 9 at the bottom of the standards on the inside thereof to receive any dirt or waste material and prevent contact thereof with the records. The base is provided with an opening 10 of considerable size leaving the support 7 of suflicient size, however, to constitute a substantial and eiiicient support for the stack of records which the tray is designed to hold. The base is provided with ards.

an annular shoulder 11. at its periphery and on its lower edge which projects slightly beyond the standards so that when a plurality of trays are arranged one upon the other in a stack the, upper ends of the standards on one tray will engage the base of the tray next above within the annular shoulder 11 which thus forms a guard to prevent movement of one tray relative to the other. In this way a number of trays may be arranged one upon the other in a stack of considerable height without liability of the trays moving relatively to each other.

It will be noted that the tray is of skeleton form permitting the records singly or in a stack to be inserted into the tray or removed therefrom without sliding the records one upon the other,- and this insertion and removal can beetfected with the tray in any position because access to the tray is permitted at any place between the stand- The opening in the bottom of the tray is primarily provided to prevent the accumulation of any waste material on the bottom of the t'ay, but it also reduces the weight of the tray and permits access to the records through the bottom oi the tray and enables the tray to be handled by engaging it at the opening. instead of by ongaging one of the standards. The step up of the support on the base is important because itelevates the records at the outer edge of the tray above the edge of the support so that the fingers may be readily engaged with the bottom record to lift the records out of the tray without necessitat-- ing any sliding movement of any records one upon the other and also without nor-essarily engaging the fingers with any of the parts of the tray.

My invention provides a simple means for holding and transporting records, which I have found in actual practice very greatly reduces the loss by reason of scratched records. It provides a tray which can be easily filled and emptied, which can be easily handled and which can be arranged one upon the other in a stack of considerable height to reduce the labor involved in transporting the trays from place to place and while I have used the invention only as a tray for holding phonograph records I believe it will also be found useful for holding other things and I desire to avail myself of all uses for which the invention may be found adaptable.

I have shown and described an embodiment of the invention which has proven entirely practical in actual use but it is possible to make various changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts to meet different conditions and I therefore reserve the right to make all such changes as fairly fall within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A phonograph-record tray comprising a circular base having an annular depending flange, standards rising from the top of the base and disposed in a circular series at the inner side of the flange, the outer walls of the standards being in substantial alignment with the inner wall of the flange, said base having a central circular elevated portion provided with a central opening and having its outer peripheral edge spaced from the. standards, the top of the elevated portion being at and constituting a record-supporting seat.

2. A phonograph-record tray comprising a base provided with a plurality of standards rising therefrom and disposed in a circular series. and a record-sopporting seat carried by and elevated above the base and disposed within and spaced from the standards.

3. A phonograph-record tray comprising a base provided with a plurality of standards rising therefrom and disposed in a circular series. and a record-supporting seat carried by the base and disposed within and spaced from the standards, said base having a depending annular flange outwardly of the standards, the inner wall of the flange being in substantial alignment with the outer walls of the standards.

JOSEPH W. Blhl-IOP. 

